Author
Topic: Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt (Read 1514090 times)

I'm guessing you are right, Diane, and they total then tax rather than the other way around. I'm also guessing that unless you are making a fairly high cost purchase of many items, the difference is negligable, as in a penny or two.

In the brief experience I had years ago with collecting taxes and then filing and paying the state quarterly, you reported total sales on which taxes were due/collected, then figured the percentage on that total, and paid that. The state didn't ask how much you collected, so if it came out a few cents more or less than you had collected, well, whatever. You still paid the amount due based on total sales for the quarter. So who knows how that all plays out for a business that collects thousands of $ in taxes on millions of $ in sales. I would bet that the amount they end up paying is different than the amount they collected every time. So each customer who buys multiple items is just a miniature version of that.

All the posts about tax on things in the US -- info appreciated, but pain to my brain has increased exponentially ! Am tempted just now, to feel that there's an upside to the unlikelihood of my being able to afford a transatlantic visit...

This just happened. My immediate supervisor said "Just let it goooooo...." and I am trying....but I figured I would share it here first.

My supervisor was actually the person who initiated the reference interview. The patron wanted to read "professional journals."

Professional journals on what?

Professional journals.

What was it the patron wanted to learn about?

I just want to read professional journals so I can learn stuff.

About?

Just give me a list of your professional journals.

At that point, supervisor had to take a phone call, leaving unmedicated me with the patron who insisted he wanted a list of all the professional journals available so he could read them all.

I explained about our electronic resources and showed him the list of 16000 journals available to him, but I also explained that he couldn't just click on a title and start reading, that he had to have a subject of interest.

I just want to start reading.

At this point, unmedicated me (yes, I left the house in a rush and forgot to take that which makes me less irritable...we call them my "Keep Patrons Alive Drugs") says "Sir, you can read on any topic you want at any time. But you can't just go to the first journal and start reading."

"Well I want to know everything."

My supervisor got back into the mix and told him that if what he is after (and it was) is to just start reading professional journals a - z, then we don't have what he is looking for as we are a public library and not a college library. We offered him what we do have (JAMA, professional journals for librarians, and so forth....nope, he didn't want to read on a topic, he wanted everything.

And walked away.

Now, here's the thing that's bothering me....I still don't know what it was he wanted to accomplish. I asked him if he was looking to learn more about a specific profession, because I could get him information about differernt professions with books we had. Nope. Was there a topic relating to a specific profession? No. What did he want to learn about? Everything.

Well, I wanted to point out to him that if he wanted to learn "everything" that he should just go to 001 on the bookshelf and start reading and keep going until he hits 999.999. But apparently that wasn't as good a plan.

And now that I have told my story, I am going to assume the lotus position, do some "ohms" and see if I can let it go.....

Congratulations, I'm pretty sure you just made first contact with Beta 189.A

All the posts about tax on things in the US -- info appreciated, but pain to my brain has increased exponentially ! Am tempted just now, to feel that there's an upside to the unlikelihood of my being able to afford a transatlantic visit...

As far as taxes go the US as Bill Bryson pointed out, is really a bunch of little countries all banded together so they are jealous about State things. So some States have taxes, some don't and tax rates and what is taxed vary. Just know odds are good that whatever you buy will have taxes and let the clerk tell you the total.

Not to mention that individual cities and counties want their 2 cents as well, and sales tax can vary quite widely from place to place. It is a truly brain-hurty system, even when you're used to it.

Logged

What part of v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}} don't you understand? It's only rocket science!

"The problem with re-examining your brilliant ideas is that more often than not, you discover they are the intellectual equivalent of saying, 'Hold my beer and watch this!'" - Cindy Couture

The way sales tax is figured in the US isn't per item, it's per full order (on everything taxable, of course, some things are exempt.) So including tax in the price isn't possible because sales tax doesn't work that way.

Simple arithmetic says that it doesn't matter. If the tax is 8.5%, then (X*1.085)+(Y*1.085)+(Z*1.085) = (X+Y+Z)*1.085. The former applies the tax to each item while the latter applies the tax to the sum total. It's the Distributive Law of arithmetic. I've shopped in places where the tax was included in the price, so it's not impossible.

The real reason for not including the tax in the price is to make the price look lower. If store A and store B both sell the same item, but store A charges $5.46 including tax while store B charges $5 (plus tax), which are you going to choose? The airlines just got in a world of hurt for leaving a bunch of fees out of their initially quoted prices which was so bad that it was misleading to the consumer.

Logged

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

For some reason, I thought that companies decided the retail price for their goods, then stores made the decision to offer the product for less when they have a sale. Marking all the merchandise with the price plus tax could get very complicated if you must do that for mark-downs, too. I've seen (national) commercials which advertise a price. Obviously they can't give the total price because the tax in each city/county/state is different.

In Hawaii, we don't have any sales tax. We have an excise tax. The selling party is responsible for paying the state for everything that sells, whether it is goods or services, food or medicine. The stores add it after totalling all the items. I think the current rate is something like 4.712%. Many visitors from Mainland US think our "sales tax" rate is low, but they aren't seeing the full picture. Every time the goods or services change hands, the excise tax is assessed. Sales tax only gets paid by the last one to buy it.

I must admit, sales tax and tipping are two of the most brain hurty parts of life in these Unites States.

Logged

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

The way sales tax is figured in the US isn't per item, it's per full order (on everything taxable, of course, some things are exempt.) So including tax in the price isn't possible because sales tax doesn't work that way.

Simple arithmetic says that it doesn't matter. If the tax is 8.5%, then (X*1.085)+(Y*1.085)+(Z*1.085) = (X+Y+Z)*1.085. The former applies the tax to each item while the latter applies the tax to the sum total. It's the Distributive Law of arithmetic. I've shopped in places where the tax was included in the price, so it's not impossible.

The real reason for not including the tax in the price is to make the price look lower. If store A and store B both sell the same item, but store A charges $5.46 including tax while store B charges $5 (plus tax), which are you going to choose? The airlines just got in a world of hurt for leaving a bunch of fees out of their initially quoted prices which was so bad that it was misleading to the consumer.

I disagree with Art.

The real reason is that these taxing entities, be they state, county, or city, are all separate. It is state's (and other taxing body's) rights, which is a whole important thing in a country as large as ours.

And being who we are, we in the US historically want to know exactly what we are paying and why. It's our stubborn independence and wanting to control as much as we can in our lives.

The way sales tax is figured in the US isn't per item, it's per full order (on everything taxable, of course, some things are exempt.) So including tax in the price isn't possible because sales tax doesn't work that way.

Simple arithmetic says that it doesn't matter. If the tax is 8.5%, then (X*1.085)+(Y*1.085)+(Z*1.085) = (X+Y+Z)*1.085. The former applies the tax to each item while the latter applies the tax to the sum total. It's the Distributive Law of arithmetic. I've shopped in places where the tax was included in the price, so it's not impossible.

The real reason for not including the tax in the price is to make the price look lower. If store A and store B both sell the same item, but store A charges $5.46 including tax while store B charges $5 (plus tax), which are you going to choose? The airlines just got in a world of hurt for leaving a bunch of fees out of their initially quoted prices which was so bad that it was misleading to the consumer.

I disagree with Art.

The real reason is that these taxing entities, be they state, county, or city, are all separate. It is state's (and other taxing body's) rights, which is a whole important thing in a country as large as ours.

And being who we are, we in the US historically want to know exactly what we are paying and why. It's our stubborn independence and wanting to control as much as we can in our lives.

My brain hurts thinking about a store with multiple outlets in multiple jurisdictions trying to mark the final price on their goods.

Logged

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

The way sales tax is figured in the US isn't per item, it's per full order (on everything taxable, of course, some things are exempt.) So including tax in the price isn't possible because sales tax doesn't work that way.

Simple arithmetic says that it doesn't matter. If the tax is 8.5%, then (X*1.085)+(Y*1.085)+(Z*1.085) = (X+Y+Z)*1.085. The former applies the tax to each item while the latter applies the tax to the sum total. It's the Distributive Law of arithmetic. I've shopped in places where the tax was included in the price, so it's not impossible.

The real reason for not including the tax in the price is to make the price look lower. If store A and store B both sell the same item, but store A charges $5.46 including tax while store B charges $5 (plus tax), which are you going to choose? The airlines just got in a world of hurt for leaving a bunch of fees out of their initially quoted prices which was so bad that it was misleading to the consumer.

Not so. Percentages, especially on very inexpensive items, will result in fractions of pennies. Whether it's rounded up, down, or closest, there will be a difference whenever more than a few items are totaled. Think of it this way... to go with your %8.5 example... do up both totals, but drop all but two decimal places. I will bet that the sums will be different.

All the posts about tax on things in the US -- info appreciated, but pain to my brain has increased exponentially ! Am tempted just now, to feel that there's an upside to the unlikelihood of my being able to afford a transatlantic visit...

Ah, now that makes MY brain hurt! Don't something like that affect whether you'll travel over here! It really isn't that big of a deal as long as you remember that the price on an item doesn't include tax.

Curiously, we also have sales taxes (national, state and municipal) and excises. They vary by product type, by city and by state. There are products that are exempt. There are products that have additional taxes. Yet stores still manage to display the total price, with tax, on the displays.